Reports sharply conflict on whether Seahawks want Baker Mayfield

The truth regarding Seattle’s interest in Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield remains muddled, And that may be exactly how the Seahawks and/or the Browns want it.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media said the Seahawks have never had strong interest in Baker Mayfield. On Tuesday evening, Josina Anderson of CBS Sports, who recently reported that the Seahawks continues to have a high level of interest in Mayfield, took issue with Rapoport’s characterization, calling it “inaccurate.”

If the Seahawks are interested, they’re doing a great job of keeping it from becoming as obvious as, say, the Panthers’ interest in Mayfield. Carolina and Cleveland had trade talks during the draft. The negotiations fell apart over the respective portions of Mayfield’s $18.8 million salary that the Browns and Panthers would pay. More recent reporting indicated that the interest isn’t dead, even after the Panthers pulled the plug during the draft and picked Matt Corral.

Seattle, which did its best to misdirect everyone for months on whether Russell Wilson would be traded, possibly is doing the same thing here, working to create the impression that they aren’t interested despite being interested in upgrading from Geno Smith and the U.S. Open’s new favorite punching bag, Drew Lock. It makes sense to keep it quiet, for multiple reasons. They want to get Mayfield as cheaply as possible, both as to draft picks and compensation. With no one else poised to pull the trigger, and with the chances of the Browns and Mayfield coexisting somewhere south of slim and none, the Browns need two viable suitors in order to get the best possible deal that they can.

Over the weekend, we tried to identify the full universe of teams that could or should be